Elizabeth carefully blackened the edges of the letter to indicate death have visited their home and fifteen minutes later, Elizabeth stood at the door of Uncle Phillips’s office and knocked. When the clerk answered, she asked to speak to her uncle if he was available.
A few minutes later, Mr. Phillips appeared.
“Lizzy, you look upset, my dear. Is it your father?”
“No, sir,” Elizabeth replied. “It is my mother. She passed last night in her sleep. She fell ill with the influenza seven days ago, and now she is gone.”
His face altered at once.
“Please,” Elizabeth continued, “Aunt Phillips will need to be told. I am not permitted to enter any house, but I am delivering this note to Dr. Edgerton. It is our hope he will allow Mamma’s friends and neighbors to attend a viewing, and if not, perhaps he will allow my aunt a few minutes with her. I have written instructions for the cabinetmaker and a note for the rector. Will you see to those?”
Mr. Phillips softened. “Yes, I will, Lizzy. And how are you, my girl? And your father?”
“I am well, sir, though numb, and not quite myself. As for Papa, he has benefited from Dr. Edgerton’s treatments and isimproving, but now, with Mamma’s passing, I fear for him. I must attend him closely, lest we lose him too.”
After they spent some minutes discussing the preparations for the burial, Elizabeth left him and walked directly to Dr. Edgerton’s home. As she waited at the door, he drove up in his gig and reined in beside her.
“Elizabeth,” he said at once, “is your father worsening?”
“No, sir. My father has benefited from the treatments you prescribed. I remain hopeful for him.”
Her voice faltered.
“I have come on behalf of my mother. She passed last night in her sleep. She fell ill several days ago and refused all care, and now she is gone.”
Dr. Edgerton’s face grew grave.
“Sir, since Mr. Collins is recovered and Papa is improving, is it possible to have a viewing for my mother?”
He considered. “No one else in the house has fallen ill?”
“Kitty is also ill, but is recovering.”
“If you lay her out in a front parlor, leave all the windows open, and only you and Mary are present, I will allow it. Your father, Kitty, and Mr. Collins must not attend. The fewer people in the room at any one time, the better.”
He studied her closely. “You have all been exposed, but I should have expected you to fall ill by now, and you have not. You may host a viewing, Elizabeth.”
“Thank you, sir.”
Elizabeth excused herself and, after arranging for the express to be sent, returned home.
Chapter 23: The Burial
When Elizabeth returned from her errands, she went directly to Kitty’s room. She found her sister curled upon the bed, weeping without restraint.
“Kitty,” she said gently, “would you wish to see Mama? Hill has prepared her for viewing, and I thought you might want to look upon her once more before she is carried down to the front parlor.”
Kitty pushed herself upright and brushed hastily at her tears. “Yes, I should like to see her one last time, though I confess I am afraid.”
“Come. I shall remain beside you.”
Together they entered their mother’s bedchamber and stood near the wall, gazing upon the still figure upon the bed. After a moment, Elizabeth asked softly, “Would you care to hold her hand once more, Kitty?”
The younger girl shook her head, her voice scarcely above a whisper. “No, Lizzy. I wish to return to my room.”
Elizabeth took her sister’s trembling hand and led her quietly away.
Early on April 9, 1811, the four Bennet sisters, dressed in black, stood at the front entrance of their home and watched as Mr. Hill, the two footmen, Sir William Lucas, Mr. Phillips, and Mr. Gardiner loaded the casket onto the hearse. Mr. Bennet and Kitty sat near an upstairs window and observed the proceedings from there. Mrs. Hill and Cook stood off to the side and watchedas they watched their mistress of three and twenty years leave Longbourn forever.
